Note: Nollywood is the second-largest film industry in the world. Bigger than Hollywood (at least in terms of volume of movies, if not gross revenue).
- Movie titles are great places to give potential viewers a heads up on what they are about to see. If the movie is about love, for instance, how about “Feelings”, “Most Wanted Bachelor 2”, or “I Love Your Husband”. Yes, these are real.
- Want to reinforce a moral lesson or a line in a movie? How about a song in the background (skip to 26 mins in) explaining what happened and foreshadowing the dangers of what’s to come? Or a song at the beginning explaining the entire movie?
- If your mother says not to leave your family behind and run away with a man who is already married and may have a number of STDs…listen to her. It will not work out.
- If your mother asks you not to drive around with gangsters and carjack people with semi-automatic weapons…see #3.
- Living a good Christian life is important if you don’t want to end up dead or heartbroken. Unless you are watching the Muslim movies, in which case…living a good Muslim life is where it’s at. For Buddhists, atheists, Jews, or Hindus in Nigeria…too bad!
- People shout at other people a lot in Nigeria. Nobody ever uses “inside voices”.
- I suspect there may be some corruption in Nigeria, if these films are any indication. There may also be higher than normal crime rates.
- Having proper film equipment is over-rated. Also: trained actors, good sound editing, costume and set design, professional boom operators and grips, lighting, special effects, and shooting schedules of more than one week.
- When movies are shot quickly, you have the advantage of being able to use the same actors over and over again. Oh to be Richard Mofe Damijo or Chioma Chukwuka!
- Everybody in Nigeria seems to live in the exact same house.
Apparently it’s taking over all of Africa. I totally want to go to Nigeria and make movies.
I knew Bollywood was a big player in the movie industry, but had never even heard of Nollywood! But maybe I am not missing much?
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Nollywood movies.